One day, as I was deeply concentrated on the pages of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, I suddenly beheld the walls of its outer meanings crumble away. Lo! vast inner meanings opened like a golden treasure house before my gaze.

If Jesus were preaching today to an American audience, his message would not be, "Sell all ye have and give to the poor;" "take no heed for the morrow, what ye shall eat, what ye shall put on." These and other beautiful sayings of Jesus could not be strictly applied in the West today.

Spiritual healing requires willing cooperation on the disciple's part. It cannot be achieved by passivity. Surrender to the divine will, as expressed through the guru, must be offered freely, willingly, and intelligently.

If we accept the principle of cause and effect in Nature, and of action and reaction in physics, how can we not believe that this natural law extends also to human beings? Once consciousness is understood as basic to everything the question begs to be asked: Do not humans, too, belong to the natural order?

Jesus says it is not enough to love your neighbors only and exclude your enemies. He says that a wise man beholds in the circumference of his heart not only the presence of friends, but also enemies. Transcend duality through love.

Perfect health is given by God. Disease is man-made. The baby who is born blind, or who is born a moron, brings such a condition from a past form of existence. Diseases acquired from the past or created through transgressions of the laws in this life are the results of human error. God wants His children to enjoy health and happiness, but they create disease and sorrow by breaking His laws.

Take this Christmas celebration seriously and through deep and sustained meditation invite the Christ to manifest himself to you. Jesus himself said that to all those who received him, he would give the power to become the sons of God.

"Blessed are those who do not indulge in sensational news."
Millions start the day with the gruesome sight of murder headlines in the morning newspapers. The sleep-refreshed young mentality starts the day's race for success with the dark cloud of wrong thoughts hanging over his mind. The law of "All's well that starts well" is trampled upon.

The Law of Service to others is secondary to, and born out of, the law of self-interest and self-preservation. The real reason behind the scriptural injunction to "Serve thy fellowmen" and "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is the law of service, by which devotees expand the limits of their own selves.

"I used to laugh a lot when I was a boy, because of my inner joy in God," the Master told us. "The saints I met, most of whom were outwardly grave, welcomed my laughter as coming from God. "Badhuri Mahasaya (the 'levitating saint,' as I've described him in my Autobiography) enjoyed my laughter for the same reason. It upset a few of his disciples, however, to see me laugh in the presence of their ever-serious Master.

Some of the monks at Mount Washington once sent a petition to the Master, requesting a change in their diet. They asked that their food be more "scientific." They submitted their demand, unfortunately, in a spirit of self-righteousness.

Perfect health is given by God. Disease is man-made. The baby who is born blind, or who is born a moron, brings such a condition from a past form of existence. Diseases acquired from the past or created through transgressions of the laws in this life are the results of human error. God wants His children to enjoy health and happiness, but they create disease and sorrow by breaking His laws.

Just as a wet match, when struck, does not produce fire, so a mind saturated with restlessness is unable to produce the fire of concentration, even when prodigious efforts are made to strike the cosmic spark.

The bells have pealed the opening of the portals of all hope in the New Year. The ever-marching pall bearers of the time have carried the depression, disease, and failure-stricken deceased old year to be delightfully buried in the cemetery of happy oblivion. Do not again conjure up the specter of the trialsome past year to stalk silently on the fields of your Soul forces and scare your determination, enthusiasm, and perseverance away.

Jesus was an Oriental, by birth and blood and training. The Wise Men of the East, or East India, came to confer about Him when He was born, knowing Him to be one of the greatest message-bearers of Truth.

Through tests we learn life's lessons. Tests are not meant to crush us: They are to develop our powers. They come through the natural law of progress and are necessary for us to advance from lower to higher steps.

A room may be in darkness for thousands of years, but if a light is brought into it, in that very instant the darkness vanishes. So is it with sin. You cannot drive sin out of the mind any more than you can beat darkness out of a room with a stick. By concentration on delusion, indeed, you may only increase its hold on your mind. Bring in the light of God, however, through deep meditation and devotion, and the darkness will vanish as though it had never been.

Invoke God as power in the temple of consciousness during the day. Let every action and every word that you utter be tinged and tipsy with God-love intoxication. Talk and act sensibly as a man who keeps his senses awake and in command. Be drunk with God and let every action of your daily life be a temple of God's memory. Perform every action to please Him; and in the indestructible shrine of your devotion God will listen in every thought.

All nature that we behold is the mother aspect of God, because in nature we find beauty, gentleness, and kindness. The flowers, birds, and the beauties of nature all speak of the Mother aspect of God-the creative motherly instinct of God. When we look at all the good things in nature, we feel a tenderness rise within us; we can see and feel God in nature

To defend one's country against the aggression of another is righteous action, but wars settled by brute force do not accomplish any lasting good. You cannot conquer your enemies by brute force. You must use love.

People do not intentionally love to be evil. They are evil because they do not know the greater charm of good habits and are unable to compare and select the best. Most people become evil due to the influence of opinion, and most people are unconsciously led to evil. People are evil due to the precedence of evil in their environment in early life, and people are evil because they do not know any better.

Our old tutor of last year has just passed away. Let us remember the joyous instructions and blissful experiences of the past year, and let us repeat them with greater intensity in the coming New Year. Let us forget the sorrows of the past and make up our minds not to bring them back in the coming New Year. With new determination and unflinching will, let us make up our mind to renew our life, our better habits, and our successes in the temple of the New Year.

This excerpt from an article by Paramhansa Yogananda, titled How Christ Consciousness Descends into Human Consciousness, could well be called "How to Celebrate Christmas." May the power of this message inspire you to an ever-deepening attunement with God and Christ within.

Intuition is that directly perceiving faculty of the soul which at once knows the truth about anything. Unless you have the power of intuition, you cannot possibly know Truth. It is the knowing power of the soul without the help of the senses or the mind. Intuition can give you knowledge about things which your senses and understanding can never give. Intuition does not depend upon any outside data whatsoever.

You want a thing as long as you are not able to get it; when you have secured it, sooner or later you will tire of it, and then you will want something else. Have you ever tried to find that will-o'-the-wisp of "something else" which you seek at the end of all accomplished desires?

Words are vibrations of thought. Thoughts are vibrations of power and energy. Strong words or commands, such as "Wake up," uttered feebly without the background of latent vigorous force, are meaningless. Hence, when you mechanically affirm, "I am prosperous," but in the background of your mind you think, "I am always poor, and I am going to remain so. What is the use of prosperity affirmations anyway?" then, of course, no results will be forthcoming.